Mercedes Benz may pull out of Formula 1?

The latest addition to the hot rumor pot is the possibility of Stuttgart-based auto maker Mercedes Benz pulling out of Formula 1 as the recent “lie-gate” scandal involving the McLaren Formula 1 team intensifies. Apparently, Daimler AG’s CEO, Dieter Zetsche has revealed to a German-based publication that, “If circumstances should change, perhaps because of an unreasonable punishment by the FIA, it is possible that we could consider our engagement,”.

In a couple of days, the World Motor Sport Council will meet and a decision will be issued out regarding the scandal that involves the McLaren outfit not being truthful regarding the yellow flag incident at the 2009 season opener in Melbourne, Australia.

The Woking-based outfit is expected to face severe penalties, and it does make sense for Mercedes to think about pulling out if it feels that the FIA’s decision is unreasonable. The premium brand is not only supplying its V8 powerplants to McLaren, but to two other teams as well, including the slower Force India and Brawn GP.

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring TV programme and as our version of the Joker.

This is Daimler AG's way telling FIA not to push them around too much…Many years ago it was Ferrari who felt aggrieved by FIA's engine regulation. So Enzo Ferrari threatened to quit F1 join Indy cars (CART) instead. The old man even went so far as to build a complete CART spec race car and unveiled to the public to blackmail FIA. http://forix.autosport.com/8w/march90ca-ferrari.h…

On the diffuser issue, it was classic F1 way of reading the rules. Colin Chapman once said "rules is for the obedience of fools and interpretation of wise men", it was that attitude that gave the world ground effect and dual chassis F1 cars.

It will be sad if Mclaren pulls out from F1, but then it is their own doing. They lied and thought they could get away with it.

Ferarri is till struggling with just 3 points after 3 races because they thought that they were still the same powerful team that won the constructors award last year. Unfortunately the new rule changes have wiped the slate clean and everyone starts from zero, and Ferrari were caught unprepared. I believe they will catch up with the rest in the middle of the season.

The fact that this is Mercedes pulling out…..Mclaren is a different name all together…yes Mclaren recently made a lot of errors and its their fault but the fault cannot be shared with Mercedes since they did not do anything wrong from the beginning so with Mercedes pulling out….F1 will never be the same and its not worth watching F1 anymore…imagine having a name like Ferrari pulling out from the race. What's left to watch?

F1 without direct involvement of Big Name car makers is still F1. and i emphasize here DIRECT. i mean F1 used to be a sport in which independent teams utilizing car makers engines with little or no direct involvement with the major car makers and we still watch it :) ….well i've been following F1 ever since I can remember (i think since the late 80's or early 90's. i still remember how great the Williams team used to be, or how Steward Ford and Jordan Grand Prix won races without direct involvement of car makers

Mercedes owns a share in McLaren so I think chances of them pulling out from McLaren and then support Brawn is very unlikely. If Mercedes decides to drop F1, chances are that Brawn will also have to find another engine supplier. True ?

FIA will always biased toward Ferrari in the eyes of McLaren fanboys…. pathetic… during 'Spy-gate' drama, why on earth Alonso & Hammy being allowed to still go racing? didn't it mean that they're racing with 'drugged' horses? they could still win Driver Championship, remember? i didn't heard anyone saying FIA biased to McLaren!

anyway, in recent case, McLaren & Hammy only got themself to blame! What it got to do with Ferrari? stupid… some ppl would love to point finger to others… if McLaren being ban for the rest of this year races, I still think Ferrari can't win Constructor Championship, unless they got some bloody amasing updates coming in Barcelona.. but so do other teams & that mean it will not be easy for Ferrari… so Ferrari basicly gain nothing! i don't see how can they gain in long-term either (if McLaren-Merc pull out of F1)! FIA should just punish MCLaren & LW pretty hard coz they've been given a few chances to correct themself but choosed not to! I don't have any respect to a liar! Liar! Liar! Pans on Fire!

yeah right… all i heard every now & then r that Ferrari received this money that money, as if that all those Money r fabricated to 'flow' into their arm… if it isn't fair i wonder why McLaren-Merc (or any other teams) still here all this time, & not making a big fuss about it (only their fans r)…. F1 is not "village" football, it's a multi-millions sports/business, if u can't benefit by entering it then why bother? if it's being 'manipulate' by a few ppl to suite their favourite team, why bother? think about it… all i heard was rumours with no basis, give me solid facts (such as Hammy radio transmission etc.) then i will believe… the team (plus LH) admitted (at last) that it was their mistake & didn't even mentioned that the penalty given to them (to date) r not fair! all i heard r their fans whining like it was all FIA/Stewards/Ferrari(or even Toyota) guys just want to kick them down.. gosh…

btw, i'm no Ferrari fan.. i'm more interested in drivers rather than teams.. my fav. still Kimi, Vettel & Nico.. used to like Hammy before the Alonso-LH-McLaren hanky-panky.. but I never like Alonso… superb driver but IMO he's a cry-baby..

Daimler AG’s CEO, Dieter Zetsche is using this so called 'lie-gate' as a excuse to pull out of Formula one because like most car manufacturers, they are feeling the heat of diminishing demand of cars due to the global economic crisis which is hitting the car manufacturers where it hurts.

Honda has pulled out and Toyota will pull out if the F1 team does not make successful inroads into F1; i.e must win the championship in order to justify its substantial investment cost. Renault will be on shaky ground next season because it's main sponsor ING will pull of out F1.

Also I don't why Daimler AG is so concerned about the lie-gate as they should be thrilled to bits that BrawnGP which by the way is powered by a Mercedes F1 engine (which by the way is designed and build entirely by it's British based subsidiary Ilmor Engineering) is winning races.

I personally doubt Daimler AG is concerned about the lying fiasco because heck everybody lies one point or another. Being a hypocrite is what Daimler AG is only good at at the current moment.

It'll be a crying shame if Mercedes go ahead with their threat to pull out from F1. Mercedes in F1 is not just about McLaren, there's also Force India and the Championship leading Brawn GP. True F1 fans would definitely want them to remain, but if Mercedes does pull out, the biggest losers would be the Brawn GP team. Why punish all for the mistake of one? Fans would be hoping that cooler heads will prevail, and the threat remains just a threat. CHIAO!

[quote comment="234241"][quote comment="234215"]yeah! they are so biased towards ferrari that they deemed the 2 step diffuser used by Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams legal!

so bl00dy biased![/quote]

for the last 2-3 seasons of f1, most new rules intro by FIA are to reduced ferrari(or to be exact schumi) domination in F1..so do u really think that FIA is biased towards ferrari? think abt that.[/quote]

I thnk FIA has made huge changes to chalenge Schumi, so, I don't believe they love Ferrari that much. But I think they have something with McLaren, and what Daimler boss did was a threat to show these guys that F1 can't afford to lose such a powerhouse like Mercedes-Benz.

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